62
62
Jul 6, 2011
07/11
by
CSPAN2
tv
eye 62
favorite 0
quote 0
first, we waged two wars in iraq and afghanistan, and we didn't pay for them. i think back in my history, and i can remember as a kid that every birthday i would receive a savings bond, u.s. savings bond. and i used to think it was interesting, they would hand me these $25 savings bonds and i knew they cost $18.25 but if i didn't do anything and held on to them, they would be worth $25. grandma and grandpa would give me the $25 savings bond and i knew it cost $18.25. those savings bonds is how we fund wars. americans sack tpaoeuzed -- sacrificed and they bought savings bonds. it was my family tradition. it was the tradition in america. when it came to the two most recent wars -- iraq and afghanistan -- it didn't happen. we borrowed the money from other countries. during that eight-year period of time under president bush, we wage twaod wars and borrowed the money and added it to the national debt. and we did something else. no president in the history of the united states of america ever has cut taxes in the midst of a war. and you know why? because you have yo
first, we waged two wars in iraq and afghanistan, and we didn't pay for them. i think back in my history, and i can remember as a kid that every birthday i would receive a savings bond, u.s. savings bond. and i used to think it was interesting, they would hand me these $25 savings bonds and i knew they cost $18.25 but if i didn't do anything and held on to them, they would be worth $25. grandma and grandpa would give me the $25 savings bond and i knew it cost $18.25. those savings bonds is how...
41
41
Jul 19, 2011
07/11
by
CSPAN2
tv
eye 41
favorite 0
quote 0
so when members of congress say continue the war in afghanistan, afghanistan, $10 billion a month, they are saying we're prepared to borrow $4 billion every single month to keep that promise. so the president comes to us about once a year and says i need more authority to continue to borrow money to pay for the things that you have asked us to do. that's what it comes down to. now, nobody likes to vote for the debt ceiling because it is so widely misunderstood. most people basically say i don't want to be associated with it. i have been guilty of that in my political career, but the fact is most of us look over our shoulders at the final vote and say we better pass this darn thing because if we don't, we will default on our debt. the full faith and credit of the united states of america is like our credit score. guess what? we have the best in the world. of all governments in the world, we have the best. aaa. it doesn't get any better, and it's always been there. and that has helped us. it's helped us not only to borrow money at lower interest costs but the fact that our economy has loo
so when members of congress say continue the war in afghanistan, afghanistan, $10 billion a month, they are saying we're prepared to borrow $4 billion every single month to keep that promise. so the president comes to us about once a year and says i need more authority to continue to borrow money to pay for the things that you have asked us to do. that's what it comes down to. now, nobody likes to vote for the debt ceiling because it is so widely misunderstood. most people basically say i don't...
72
72
Jul 20, 2011
07/11
by
CSPAN2
tv
eye 72
favorite 0
quote 0
i disagree with a strategy where we're spending $100 billion to $120 billion in afghanistan in a strategy of nation building that is not the best use of our national security, not the best use of our soldiers who are there to fight for our national security, but those are decisions that were made in the past. and we must pay the bill on those decisions even when i disagreed with them. and then we need to put together a plan that takes on our deficit and our debt, and that plan has to put all of the options on the table. some of my colleagues across the aisle, they said, well, we want to protect the tax spending programs where we've tucked in tax provisions for the wealthy and the well connected. we want to defend those. we don't want to touch those for the best-off americans. but we want to cut the programs for working americans. that is unacceptable. we have seen enormous increase in the disparity between the wages and welfare of our citizens in general and the best-off becoming much, much wealthier proportionately. we can't continue to say that we're going to protect the well-connected
i disagree with a strategy where we're spending $100 billion to $120 billion in afghanistan in a strategy of nation building that is not the best use of our national security, not the best use of our soldiers who are there to fight for our national security, but those are decisions that were made in the past. and we must pay the bill on those decisions even when i disagreed with them. and then we need to put together a plan that takes on our deficit and our debt, and that plan has to put all of...
59
59
Jul 6, 2011
07/11
by
CSPAN2
tv
eye 59
favorite 0
quote 0
right now there are 140,000 brave americans risking death and injury in afghanistan and iraq. do we reduce our responsibility to them because republicans don't want to burden millionaires? additionally, payments to doctors under medicare, medicaid could be suspended. where do the seniors and needy americans turn then in the event of an urgent medical problem? at a time when nearly 14 million americans are out of work and struggling to keep food on the table, unemployment benefits could lapse. we're talking about the possibility of people without incomes, people unable to sustain their basic needs. in addition to destroying the safety net for ordinary americans, a default crisis would likely threaten america's position as the economic giant of the world, as we see the possibility of widespread panic on wall street and the damage to the credit markets that could lead to the loss of millions of jobs across the country. the question has to be answered, mr. president: why are the republicans willing to walk on this economic tightrope to win favor among wealthy contributors? it's be
right now there are 140,000 brave americans risking death and injury in afghanistan and iraq. do we reduce our responsibility to them because republicans don't want to burden millionaires? additionally, payments to doctors under medicare, medicaid could be suspended. where do the seniors and needy americans turn then in the event of an urgent medical problem? at a time when nearly 14 million americans are out of work and struggling to keep food on the table, unemployment benefits could lapse....
278
278
Jul 6, 2011
07/11
by
CSPAN2
tv
eye 278
favorite 0
quote 0
-- or afghanistan, then iraq. both wars totaling well over a trillion, $2 trillion. that will ultimately, both of those, the tax cuts and the wars, accounts for about $7 trillion in deficits in 2009 and going forward. now, madam president, the facts are clear. the tax cuts that president bush put in place contributed to the deficit and the revenues have got to be addressed if we're employing to go forward -- if we're going to go forward and deal with this. federal revenues today, the money the government takes in, is at its lowest level since 1950. we've had a 60% reduction in revenue and a 60% increase in expenditures. and right now, we're at the lowest level of revenue taken in that we've been at since the 1950's. and there are only about 14% of the total g.d.p. the fact is that the last five times we balanced the budget, those revenues were about19% or 20% of g.d.p. so here we are at 14%. we've balanced the budget five times previously. and the revenues were at about 19.5% to 20% of g.d.p. doesn't that tell us
-- or afghanistan, then iraq. both wars totaling well over a trillion, $2 trillion. that will ultimately, both of those, the tax cuts and the wars, accounts for about $7 trillion in deficits in 2009 and going forward. now, madam president, the facts are clear. the tax cuts that president bush put in place contributed to the deficit and the revenues have got to be addressed if we're employing to go forward -- if we're going to go forward and deal with this. federal revenues today, the money the...